Sprout!

Oh the rains, they have been a' pourin' the past couple of mornings---my favorite kind of start to the day. It washes away all the dust and goo on the plants and sidewalks here, clears the air for a couple of hours.  The smell of coffee and the tap, tap, splat sounds on my studio windows...mmmm I am lost.

 

And with all the rain, brings blooms, thus this month's Ornament Thursday theme-Sprout!  Ok, I added the exclamation point.  Growing up in Indiana, most of us are ready for Spring about this time of year wondering if we will ever see daffodils or sprouts again.  In fact, Grandpa called Easter Sunday morning and told me it had snowed back home.  Try hiding brightly colored eggs on a blanket of white for the big egg hunt.  Two times, we have been in Germany at the beginning of Spring.  I remember the corner flower markets had beautiful pansies and tulips out front.  The shops were full of wonderful decorations like paper mache eggs, grassy straw wreaths, pipe cleaner chics, and felty flowers.  I can't help but think about those trips when spring rolls around.  One of which was my first time traveling abroad-quite magical.

 

Here's a felty flower brooch that I whipped up to sprout out of this loud green jacket.  I'm sorry to say the flower does not squirt water even though it looks playful enough.  I used orange silk spread across the top of my red felt before I wet felted it to give it a swirly smooth texture (see the end of this post for a materials list).  The jacket I've had for years, and I can't give it up---it's my favorite color.  However, I gave it a face lift by shredding along some of the seams with a seam ripper.  You can use a razor blade to kind of fray the areas a bit too.  If you're looking to explore felted jewelry making, check out my book, Felted Jewelry.  Let me know if you have questions about where to by wool and such also.  I'm happy to help. 

For this project you need:

• Wool Roving
• Silk top (optional)
• 1 Felt ball
• Green sheet of embroidered felt for leaf from Ornamentea
• Seed beads
• Needle felting tool by Clover

Happy Spring! Happy Sprouting! And here are the rest of the Ornament Thursday Club Members!

Alexa Westerfield - a.k.a. Swelldesigner  Now that's it's time for spring, ideas are "sprouting" all over the place. Alexa creates this eye-catching notebook to keep them in order.
Art Bead Scene  Some good karma is sprouting up at the Art Bead Scene with Heather's Lotus Flower Bracelet
Cindy Gimbrone aka The Lampwork Diva  The Brooklyn National Anthem sprouts every year when Cindy's in Spring mode. See what it inspired this year!
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles  Melanie giggles and remembers a furry friend, brings back an old mold, and sprouts up a beaded LOLhammy ceramic ornament
Helen Bradley and Michelle Zimmerman at http design  It's spring and we're sprouting all sorts of wonderful art at http design. Michelle is toting her art to the market and Helen revisits a fun art school assignment for her inspiration.
Humblebeads  Humblebeads celebrates spring with a Berry Good bracelet inspired by some juicy disk beads.
Jennifer Heynen of Jangles  Jennifer has come up with a cute little necklace to remind you of spring.
Katie's Beading Blog  Create some spring flair of your own with this easy bead embroidery idea from Katie's book, Hip to Bead.
Kriss Cramer - Spring Is In The Air  Not much of a horticulturist? Me neither! But I love flowers and I enjoy growing these ones with some paper, paint, and rhinestones.
Linda and Tea at Make It Mine magazine  Tea decided to join the fun this month. Check out her quilt blocks and Linda's purse.
Melissa J. Lee - Strands of Beads  What do Korean playing cards have to do with a sprouting spring? Check out Melissa's blog to find out.
Michelle McGee - S-P-R-O-U-T  Michelle just can't stop creating in green! A little wooden birdhouse becomes a beautiful palace!
Savvy Crafter  Candie shares some happy spring memories with a cheerful felty flower idea!
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done!  Jean tells a touching, poignant tale of some beads who help one another, and after a small amount of sturm and drang they get it together and help each other! In fact, they prettify whatever YOU choose! Go see! It's fun!
Spring is Sprouting for Joolz by Lisa  Even without a green thumb, Lisa managed to "grow" a garden of sorts this month.
Sprouting Up with Beading Help Web  Lynn Kvigne's used wire and a lentil bead to create a "sprouting" pendant for wire workers who want a bit of a challenge! http://beading.consumerhelpweb.com/blog/2008/03/ornament-thursday-sprout.html
The Goddess ROCKS!  Inspired by a river rock shaped like an ancient goddess statue, Hali paints, melts crayons and adds glitter to create a sparkley celebration of Spring.
The Impatient Blogger  How does your garden grow? With metal mesh, Czech glass beads and vintage French images all in a row! Margot just returned from Paris where she discovered a treasure trove of vintage paper. This scanned and sized postcard image fit the theme of sprout perfectly and the necklace was in search of a new home...add some teal metal mesh bows and accents and voila...a design sprouts forth!
Vintage Girl Teams Up With Her Vintage Momma!  What does a gal do when she finds herself far from her crafting supplies? Why, she raids her mom's basement and then puts dear old mama to work! Stop by and you'll see why mom's basement is fertile ground for things that sprout!

Comments

[JOHN&RITA]

Good night don't let the bed bugs bite

[Hali Chambers]

Candie, I always love your stories. This is really sweet! :-) Hali

[Cindy Gimbrone]

Candie,

I love your jacket - I wouldn't give it up either, it's a great color. The felted flower pops perfectly against it. Another great project!

Cindy

[Madge]

Ms. Cooper

You are an endless fount of creative inspiration. Did you know that your jacket is my favorite color too?! We are so kindred.

That project is extraordinary...just like you.

xoxo
Madge

[Jean Yates]

I love love love this little ( yet very big in impact!) felted flower! You are so good at what you do! Great story, too! I guess Iowa and Germany are not next door to each other. Thank you, from a person whose geographical knowledge really sucks! :)

Great ornament! xox! jean

[Lisa Liddy]

That is gorgeous! And hurray...another book I need to add to my shelf! I have the roving all stashed on the shelf...if there's a coupon for "time" in your book, I'm there!

[Michelle]

That is SO pretty!

[Lynn Kvigne]

I love bright colors for spring and summer, and your flower pops right out on that jacket!!! And I love your tip about updating an old jacket.

[Kriss]

Beautiful pin! Colorful and fun and goes perfect with your favorite jacket. I also enjoyed your photograph of flowers and your description of what a great morning is to you.

[Melissa]

Ooh, I didn't know you had a book on felted jewelry. I'll add it to my wish list. I love felted flowers. I like the way you layered the flower here without it getting terribly bulky.

[Linda at Make It Mine mag]

Great idea to update the jacket with a little fraying. And the pin is great! The colors are really vibrant--as vibrant as the real one in the first photo. Fabulous end result, as always. We have the other kind of wet outside the window today... the kind that blows sideways. But it'll end soon enough, I suppose.

[heather]

love the felted flower Candie! great project and beautiful photo of the flowers.

[Cheap Computer Canada]

With rain comes in greenery on the Earth and color in our life's.

[philippine flowers]

Oh' so cute flowers! I want to see them personally.

-pia-

[photo charm bracelet]

I find it hard to work with felt.

[Send Flowers to France]

You are so generous! I just love finding beautiful and artistic freebies like this. They really brighten up my day, thank you!

[Flower store in uk]

Gorgeous work, thank you for sharing this method.